What should lifeguards do during a shark attack?

ORLEANS — Natural Resources Manager Nathan Sears asked the question. If a shark attacks a person in the water, what should lifeguards do?

Sears spoke at a recent meeting of the regional shark working group, saying the manual his department uses sidesteps this question by directing lifeguards to enter the water only after the shark has left the area.

“Who’s to say when that shark has left the area?” he asked the beach supervisors and public safety officials gathered at the Wellfleet Senior Center. The working group meets throughout the winter to discuss strategies on educating the public on the danger of great white sharks and technologies that provide better detection and warning.

“People running lifeguard agencies have to look at ... the hazards for my employees and what policies should I have for my lifeguards in these circumstances,” said B. Christmas Brewster, a past president of the United States Lifesaving Association, and editor of American Lifeguard magazine.

The idea of lifeguards waiting on shore until they think the situation is safe runs counter to their natural instincts and training, which dictates a quick response to a person in need. But the idea of putting their employees in the water and facing possible attack themselves was equally disturbing to those in charge of lifeguards. The lifeguards themselves have been asking for guidance, Sears and other beach managers said.

“This is a major topic of conversation at our meetings, and has been for the last four or five years,” said Gordon Miller, the north district lifeguard supervisor for the Cape Cod National Seashore. Miller is in charge of 25 lifeguards, the majority of whom are veteran guards, many with over a decade of service.

“We will not go in if we see a fin or a person being fed upon,” Miller said. “Once the shark has disappeared, the head guard, or the guard in charge, will make the decision to go in on a paddleboard.”

“In shark attacks, we tell the staff that if I can’t make myself safe, it’s not going to do any good to effect a rescue,” added Ryan Petersen, the acting chief ranger at the National Seashore.

State shark scientist Gregory Skomal told the shark working group that one hypothesis says great whites attack and then withdraw, leaving their victim to bleed out and die for easy consumption later. Or the sharks realize, in the case of humans, that we’re not the blubbery, nutrient-rich seals they are seeking, and become disinterested in continuing the attack.

But that’s not an absolute. A USLA report cited statistics from the International Shark Attack File that showed that out of 438 unprovoked shark bite incidents in which a rescue was attempted by another person, 14 resulted in an injury to the rescuer, and one was fatal.

In two recent nonfatal great white shark attacks on swimmers in San Diego, both victims lost significant amounts of flesh and blood, but were rescued, one by surfers, and the other by lifeguards in a boat. In an attack on a swimmer in Truro in 2012 and on two kayakers in Plymouth in 2014, the sharks also did not return after the initial attack despite the kayakers remaining in the water for up to 20 minutes as they awaited rescue, and the swimmer and his son in the Truro having to swim more than 100 yards back to shore.

One point of agreement among those in the working group was that lifeguards should not be swimming out from shore to rescue a shark bite victim. Most beaches now have paddleboards on which the rescuer stands and uses a long paddle to get out to the victim quickly without having any limbs in the water. Brewster said San Diego, where he was the lifeguard chief in charge of 240 employees, uses inflatable boats with outboard motors and personal watercraft that can both be launched from the beach for quick rescues, even in big surf.

“If I feel compelled to go out and assist someone after a shark bit them, I would be most vulnerable swimming, a little less on a rescue board, significantly less vulnerable on a personal watercraft,” Brewster said.

For lifeguards, the safest rescue vessel is a boat, Brewster said, but he agreed with the shark working group that it would take too long for one to respond to an Outer Cape beach. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters are also not practical when the victim may have minutes to live.

“At this juncture, the best option is the personal watercraft,” said Brewster who is familiar with the Cape beaches, regularly summers here, and attended the USLA board of directors meeting in Brewster this April.

At $12,000 to $14,000 per vessel, it is pricey and lifeguards need to undergo extensive training to operate them safely near swimmers and surfers, especially in surf conditions. Plus, there can be problems getting them down the high dunes of the Outer Cape and launching them given some long distances to deeper water due to extreme tides.

The Cape Cod National Seashore has a ban on personal watercraft, citing the danger of injury to operators and bystanders. Petersen said he hadn’t heard any discussion about introducing personal watercraft as a rescue tool. Miller felt the learning curve was steep and the opportunities to train on the beach limited especially within the context of a 10-week season. Plus, daily deployment to park beaches would require a long commute from their only oceanside launching area at Coast Guard Beach in Eastham.

“As of now, we’re not actively considering one,” Petersen said. “I’m not aware of any (ocean) beach within the park system with a (personal watercraft) program.”

Currently, Chatham is the only Cape town whose lifeguards use a personal watercraft for rescue.

“We could respond on personal watercraft, safely enough, to a potential attack victim,” said Daniel Tobin, Chatham’s director of parks and recreation. But their vehicle is not used on any of the town’s barrier beaches, which have the highest concentration of great whites on the Cape. Those are too remote and don’t attract many beachgoers.

Instead, it is moored off Lighthouse Beach in Chatham Harbor and is intended for rescuing those swept away by the strong current that rushes past with the outgoing tide. It has a “sled” attached to the rear that is like a waterborne stretcher.

The big expense, Tobin said, was the initial purchase price. Upkeep is minimal, training is done in-house, and the vehicle is expected to last 10 years or more, Tobin said.

“Training is the most critical element to this,” Brewster said. He pointed out that in other beach areas like New Jersey and Florida, where rescuers opted to use personal watercraft, the towns regionalized, sharing the expense of the initial training, then developing their own staff as trainers for other lifeguards.

“It’s all very expensive. I think that’s what it’s come down to, dollars and cents, and safety,” Orleans Beach Supervisor Robert Bates said. “The bottom line is we need a boat or a personal watercraft.”

A couple of years ago, Orleans parks and beaches included a request for a personal watercraft in its budget request, but it didn’t make the cut for a town meeting vote.

“From an employer perspective, you have to accept that if you are going to ask public safety personnel to put themselves in a hazardous position, there’s a reasonable expectation that you have to provide them with the equipment,” Brewster said. “Would it be reasonable to tell a firefighter there’s no turnout gear, we can’t afford it, but you still have to go into a burning building and do your best?”